Pati Jinich is host of the popular James Beard Award winning and Emmy nominated PBS series Pati's Mexican Table, author of two cookbooks, and resident chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC. This is her official website where she shares recipes from her show and new recipes in her blog, plus upcoming events, recent news, and more.

To Prepare

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the rack set in the middle. Butter a round 9-inch springform pan and cover bottom with parchment paper.

In a double boiler, melt the butter and bittersweet chocolate, stirring occasionally to blend. Keep an eye on it and turn off the heat as soon as it’s all melted.

In the jar of a blender, place the eggs and sweetened condensed milk. Puree until smooth. Incorporate the melted chocolate and puree again. Then add the almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and puree again. Lastly add the boiling water and puree again.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 minutes, until top is fluffy and springy to the touch, and a toothpick comes out moist but not wet.

Rate this Recipe:

4.25 from 8 votes

Made Possible by our Sponsors & Affiliates:

Pati's Mexican Table TV series is produced by FRANK. and WETA Washington, DC, and distributed by American Public Television (APT) to public broadcasting stations nationwide. Corporate funding is provided by La Costeña, Avocados from Mexico, FUD USA, Puro Sinaloa, Visit Tucson, and Ban Coppel.

We love this recipe! We’ve enjoyed making it through the Covid-19 stay at home orders and experimenting with different chocolates and flavours (such as adding espresso, orange, malted chocolate, etc.). This is such a great activity for the kids.

Hello Pati,
My family went nuts over this cake, but it sank very low. I live over 5 miles above sea level. I will cut the baking soda and baking powder in half next time to compensate for high altitude baking. But as a perfect save, I made chocolate ganache and filled the crater with this dreamy stuff, and it was a total hit.

Hi Barb, thanks for the feedback! It is normal if the cake sinks a bit as it cools, because it is really dense and moist. However if it sinks a lot maybe it was actually under cooked or maybe your oven was too hot to start with. Since every oven is different just find what it is the right time that works for this recipe.

Pati, I just made this cake and my family and I just ate this cake. We love you! Thank you and your suegra, for this recipe. It is the best we have had in our house and we have made lots of chocolate cakes. It tastes as if it’s a difficult recipe but it could not have been easier. Thanks!

Pati, I served this cake with a slight twist or addition. I made four and cut each cake into 10 slices, as recommended. Plated and then dusted, I added five fresh raspberries atop each piece of one cake, a fanned strawberry atop each piece of the second cake, and for pieces of the third cake, I pitted, halved, and added fresh bing cherries as a topping. The fourth was left with a plain white dusting, but each slice was sided with two slices of fresh ripe mango.

Two observations. 1) Your cake recipe was an absolute hit, as witnessed by the fact that forty copies of your recipe walked out the door at the end of the evening; and 2) while the fruit additions were novel and well-received, it was the taste and texture of the cake itself which received such wild praise.

So thanks for giving us this recipe. You have legions of supporters who appreciate your culinary genius.

Hello Patti, I finally made the almond and chocolate leche cake. Although tasty it sunk a tad bit in the middle. Do you have any suggestions to prevent this from happening again? Also, can I mix the ingredients with a hand electrical mixer instead of blender. Thank you…

Hi Nelida, thanks for the feedback. First reasons that come to mind is that either the cake was a bit under cooked or probably your oven was too hot? Sometimes it happens that at higher temperature the cake rises to fast at the beginning and the ends up sinking. Every oven is different you know? You just need to find what is the perfect timing for yours to bake this cake to perfection 🙂

Thank you Pati! I made this cake for Valentine’s Day and served it with a dollop of creme fraiche. It was gobbled up quickly. I took your advice & used only 1 can condensed milk, with 2 Tb sugar plus I added 1 tsp instant espresso powder & 1 tsp vanilla. My husband loved it. It was unbelievably easy in the blender. We both love your show.

I just made this for my hubby’s Valentine’s Day gift (after 35 years, food is always a winner!). He doesn’t have a big sweet tooth and he really liked the cake. He said it was lighter than he expected it to be, and not overly sweet. I was thrilled to have all the ingredients on hand, and then realized my bittersweet chocolate (the big block from Trader Joe’s) had almonds in it. Since everything was going in the blender anyway, I went ahead and used it. It worked! Also, I did take some of the egg/milk mixture and added it to the warmed chocolate and butter to temper it. Thanks for sharing such a special recipe, Pati!

Oh Pati!
Just came back from Puerto Vallarta and enjoyed finding small restaurants and places that cook home style Mexican food. Then I stumbled on to your show one rainy night.
First off I am so embarrassed it took me so long to find you…but after watching nearly all of your seasons while in Mexico… I am now a big fan.
I ordered your books and will go from cover to cover and try them all. Going it try the Almond Chocolate Leche cake today off your website.
Your smart and easy way of teaching is so heartwarming. Your knowledge is endless.
Thank you so much for everything you do!
Come up to Sacramento soon!
So excited!

Oh Pati!
Just came back from Puerto Vallarta and enjoyed finding small restaurants and places that cook home style Mexican food. Then I stumbled on to your show one rainy night.
First off I am so embarrassed it took me so long but after watching nearly all of your seasons while in Mexico… I am now a big fan.
I ordered your books and will go from cover to cover and try them all.
Your smart and easy way of teaching is so heartwarming. Your knowledge is endless.
Thank you so much for everything you do!
Come up to Sacramento soon!

Absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Definitely going to make it again and again! I’m always looking for a gluten free option to take to potlucks and family dinners, this is perfect! I cannot wait to have it again for lunch tomorrow, I hope we’ll have leftovers 🙂

I have made this a couple of times and it is always a crowd-pleaser. Just remember to cool your chocolate before adding it to the blender so as not to scramble the eggs….highly recommend this cake! It’s so delicious and moist.

This is our go-to recipe. Everyone loves it.
We found it was a pain to use the 1/4 cup condensed milk and have all the leftover milk.
Now, we make the recipe without just the 1 can and do not add the 1/4 cup condensed milk. The recipe turns out fine.

Made this cake last night, and it was decadent. It tasted like a brownie made for adults: moist and chocolatey but oh-so-deep and complex. Was even a hit with the kiddos who asked for more. Can’t wait to make this for my friends who need to eat gluten free! My oven temperature must be off, so thank you for the advice about the toothpick. I tested it at 40 min, and it was way too wet. I tested at 5 minute intervals after that mark and ended up with a perfectly baked cake. Pati, all of your recipes I tried so far have been SUCH a hit with my family! My boys get excited when they know I’m trying another.

Patti – I am thinking of doing this cake as Christmas gifts for our neighbors. I want to do them in 4″ springform pans. How many pans would one batter mixture make and how long would I cook them? I want to top them with a raspberry coulis sauce drizzle, raspberries in the center and a sprig of mint. Your thoughts please.

This is the most delicious chocolate leche cake I’ve ever had! My family and friends love the rich moist chocolate flavor
It is easy to make and will satisfy chocolate lovers completely. Thank you for providing this great recipe!

Hi Pati! This cake has become a family favorite. Made one for a cookout for Memorial Day and it was gone in under 5 minutes! Made two of them for July 4th and both were gone very fast! I may have to make 4 or 5 of these cakes for our next cookout! Everyone loves it! Thank you for such an amazing recipe!

I made this cake recently and it was SO GOOD! Everyone loved it! I would love to make it for my Mom’s birthday, but she is on a sugar restricted diet. Is there any way to substitute the sweetened condensed milk? I figure I can try to find sugar free chocolate. I am just concerned it will be not sweet enough. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Make Keto sweetened condensed milk (be sure to put in vanilla & butter to round out your flavor), I use Lily’s sugarfree chips (same measure, 3/4c.) and it comes out perfect for those of us diabetics! Thanks, Pati!!

Hi Pati, Here is an update… I took a chance and made my own sugar free “sweetened condensed milk” by heating evaporated milk and Splenda. And I used sugar free chocolate chips. The texture and moistness of the cake is similar and it tastes really good. Of course, I think your recipe tastes better because of the real sweetened condensed milk & chocolate, but since my mom can’t eat a lot of sugar I think this is a great subsitute. Thank you for your recipe and I can’t wait to give this cake to my Mom for her birthday!

Since I am trying to watch my sugar, and wheat intake, so I thought I would give it a try. This is SO YUMMY! Different texture than regular cake, but I like it. Very rich and chocolatey. Do you have the calorie count or did I miss it? I really didn’t want to ask that question.
I will make this again.
Thanks Pati. Love the show!!
Btw, San Miguel de Allende is one of my favorite places on Earth. Enjoyed seeing it on your show.

Hi Pati – I watch your show with my mother, she is 88 and I am 62 so you are officially a generational show! I was thinking of adding a teaspoon of orange zest to the batter just because I think orange and almond go well together. Do you think this is a good idea or will it overwhelm the almond flavor? Thanks Pati!

Good morning, Pati. We love your show, tune it regularly, and try your recipes (with great success) several times a week. I recently made the almond and chocolate leche cake for my mother-in-laws birthday party as a special gift from me to her, and she had the courage to tell my wife (HER daughter) that this was the best homemade cake she ever had. Needless to say, I slept on the couch that night but it was worth it!

Hi Pati,
I have a dilemma. Cake is baked and it looks great but..is there a trick to getting it off of the spring form bottom. I fear I will break the cake if I try. Or do you just serve it off of the bottom?

Hi Shannan! For this recipe, I recommend you use almond flour. If you can’t find it, ​you can make your own by adding slivered almonds to a blender and puree​ until smooth. Or here’s another chocolate cake you might also like: https://patijinich.com/jujus_chocolate_birthday_cake/

Patti I am so excited to try this cake for Easter because I’m gluten free and so is this cake..I’m not a fan of a cake being to wet or “brownie” like..can I add more almond flour..or add less milk..to make it moist cake..not overly wet? I watch your show all the time..Mexico is beautiful.

Patti I made this cake and followed the recipe..I made a small one on the side for a sample..I was in heaven..I even got people asking for the recipe..thank you this is my new chocolate treat from now on.

Pati I see a few people on here are concerned about wasting the rest of the can of condensed milk. I was just going to say I used the remainder of the opened can and made no churn ice cream to go with the cake. Just a thought. It was all very tasty.

Wonderful cake! Made it the first time and could not find our springform pan so we put it in a deep 9 inch square pan. This was not ideal and made the cooking time longer, but the cake was still fantastic. Love the taste and consistency!

Hello. I made the cake yesterday for a gathering and while it’s delicious and rich, mine took longer to bake than 40 minutes, and the center was the consistency of chocolate pudding. Followed the recipe…………..should I leave out the water, or cut down on the butter?

I made this today and it’s amazing! I followed the directions exactly as they were written and produced a cake that was so moist and delicious. The only change was that it took 50 minutes instead of 40 to be fully baked. I will definitely be making this again when my children come home for Christmas. I copied your presentation for a picture for my Instagram, Pati. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Anxious to make this for my husband, after watching your show. We do not like super sweets so I can just use the 1 can of 14 oz Condensed Milk and leave out the additional 1/4 Cup? I hate to be wasteful and be left with a partial can too. What can you suggest ? Is it ok to omit the additional 1/4 C?

Thank you for your prompt reply. I walked into the kitchen to find my husband had already made the cake for ME! He said he just modified the quantity of the other ingredients in order to use the one can. He said it was super easy to make and now his new favorite. It was amazing! The texture is different due to the almond flour and it is super moist, dense and delicate all at the same time. It tastes very light and super rich! We’ve been trying to figure out how to describe it because it is so different from other cakes, maybe pound cake but light and fluffy? It was not too sweet which is fantastic. We both LOVE it and highly recommend others to try this cake. We will definitely make it again, or should I say HE will make it again. I wish I could attach a photo it was so pretty, like yours! Gracias!

The cake is wonderful, I will definitely make it in a mixing bowl next time though. The only trouble I had was getting the flour mixed in, in the blender (a Vitamix, and quite powerful). Didn’t seem to hurt the cake at all, though, it cam3 out just great!

Hi Pati! I just want to say thank you for this recipe. I made it for my friend’s baby shower, (the dad-to-be is on a gluten-free diet). Everyone enjoyed the cake, and no one felt excluded. It was so so good.

Amazing! Big chocolate flavor, not too sweet. We made it for my husbands 60th Birthday celebration and I wished I had 3 times the recipe because everyone wanted another piece!! Definately one of my go to cake recipes!😊

This is the third time I’ve made this moist and delicious cake. Everyone loves it. Serve it with whipped cream. Perfect.
No more blender (the old Waring wore out), so I make it in the old Mixmaster (just like Mom’s). I use the small bowl for the eggs and milk, then go to the large bowl to add the chocolate and flour. Works perfectly. My oven is slow so it takes an hour. It always caves in, but I thought that was to be expected! It still looks and tastes great. I got the almond flour at Trader Joe’s. I can’t wait to substitute espresso for the water as others did. And to try the flourless almond and porto cake you mentioned. I’ve also made Nana’s Flourless Chocolate Pecan, but substituted ground walnuts that I had on hand, and that was also a success and less complicated, so good when time is short. Thanks for your sweet and inspiring show, and great recipes.

I make this cake with coconut cream and blue agave instead of condensed milk. I top it with homemade chocolate and coconut milk pudding. I never thought it would become one of my kids favorite cake. I also add 1 tsp of instant coffee. So good. Thank you Pati. I am Colombian and my husband is Mexican, my kids areAmerican. Everybody loves it.

Pati
I made this as a birthday cake and everyone raved! It was so light, not too sweet and the chocolate is so comforting. I paired it with fresh whipped cream and raspberries. It was delicate and better yet, for a celiac like me it was gluten free! Thank for a wonderful recipe that will be a staple for my friends and family. Thank you for sharing your passion!

Hi Pati, (and all fellow comment readers)
I have made this awesome cake twice and loved it each time. It’s now my kids favorite dessert. Perhaps my experience might be helpful for your some of your visitors who look to the comments for extra info. I do not have a springform pan, nor a blender. I just used my 9.5″ pie pan and poured (and baked) the remainder in a small pyrex dish (it will cook a little faster). I used my handheld mixer instead of the blender, perhaps I’m missing something in texture. I’ll never know and it doesn’t matter since it tastes so good. The smaller batch was frozen and then pulled out the freezer, warmed up in the oven and served as a surprise dessert in the middle of the week!
The second time I made this, I added cinnamon and instead of water, I added strong coffee. So good.
Thanks again.

Made this cake today and it was moist and delicious, not sweet as I was expecting it to be. The bittersweet chocolate toned the sweetness and it was yum! It did sink down, leaving a raised edge once I took it out of the oven and and while it was cooling in the pan. But it did not affect the taste:)

DO NOT put this in a 9 inch pan. I did and it bubbled over in my oven!! I pulled it out, mixed the baked parts into the unbaked batter and put it in an 11inch pan which seemed like a better fit. Sill waiting for it to come out of the oven to see if I have a cake to take to a gathering.

I realized what I did wrong. I put the batter in a 9-inch cake pan, not a 9-inch springform pan, which is deeper. I knew a marvelous cook like you couldn’t make a big mistake in a recipe! Hug those sweet boys for me!

Pati,saw your excellent show last night, and today me and my daughter made the Chocolate Leche Cake, recipe works perfect! cake amazing, I wish I can attach a picture here, so you can see, a real hit for dessert tonight after dinner!

Pati,
This Almond and Chocolate Leche Cake was absolutely moist, rich and delicious served with a little whipped cream on the side. This was my Christmas dessert this year along with homemade cookies. This recipe required ingredients I had never used before like sweetened condensed milk and almond flour. I was very excited to try this because my adult daughter has issues with gluten and there are very few cakes she can enjoy-this was an absolute winner. My 5 year old twin grandchildren loved it.
This cake will become a staple in my repetoire. The other recipe of yours that my family loves is your Chop Chop Salad that I serve in the summer along with tortilla chips. Thank you for your delicious food. I really enjoy your show especially when you travel and feature the food of other places.

Two questions:
Did you butter the parchment paper after placing it in the pan, and did you let the cake cool completely before removing the ring or release it sooner? I don’t recall what you did on your show, and I am hoping to make it for Christmas Day. Thank you.

Butter the entire pan and then cover bottom with parchment paper, no need to butter the paper. And yes, please let the cake cool completely before releasing. Sorry I am responding after Christmas but just saw your message!

My family is having our Christmas celebration today and I sat down for a few minutes after prepping for. 4:00 am – 6:45 am (doing brunch) turned on tv and saw your show with this recipe. Since I’ve never had a springform pan, I jumped in my hubbys truck, drove a half hour in the snow to buy one and gather a couple of the ingredients to make this cake! I can’t wait to try it…very excited simple it has almost no added sugar! 🤞

I made this cake today, very easy and delicious for someone like me who doesn’t bake. Love how you use the blender not mixer. Unfortunately my cake fell apart because the pan was not well greased but still delicious. Thank you

I was so excited to see this cake made on television last week and will be making it later today for Thanksgiving dinner. With so many other dishes to prepare I don’t have lots of time for fussy desserts. Also, after such a big dinner, I just don’t appreciate cakes with lots of fillings and icings. With the pie we are also serving, I think this cake will be a simple, elegant choice.

I really enjoy your show. The one in which you made this cake was very special to me. In my southern family food was not just about eating, it was about being together and enjoying preparing meals. Many of those family members are gone now and my own family has scattered across the country. We all have kitchen tools, pans and bowls that belonged to our mothers, aunts and grandmothers and use many of their recipes. Thanks to technology, even when we aren’t together, we still share the dishes we prepare online.

This looked so delicious I had to try it, but for some reason it like bubbled over in the oven and got everywhere. I used a springform pan and followed the directions. However I did use sour cream as an egg substitute. Not sure what to make of it. Otherwise it tastes great.

I also saw Patti make this not too long ago. It looked so moist and chocolatey and straight-forward to make that I had to try it. Plus anything with sweetened condensed milk is tops on the list. This really was simple and delicious, the perfect combination and a real crowd pleaser. Plus, it’s gluten free if you have a dietary need. Definitely keeping this on the go-to recipe list!

I saw Pati’s Mexican Kitchen this past Saturday and I just had to make this cake it seem so simple to make, and it was! This is a wonderful cake! it’s going on my gluten-free list. My family thinks this is the best chocolate cake ever and I have to agree with them especially because there is no wheat in this cake and it’s a very moist cake too!!!!

Pati
Made this per instructions but it came up real high above the edge of the cake pan. Top cracked.
Cake was light and fluffy and moist, but not almost wet.
What did I do wrong? Was I supposed to use a springform pan with high sides?

Started watching your shows and love when you go into the cities…we have so much cultural history to offer. Looking forward to trying your cake but wondering have you ever added sliced almonds into cake batter…what do you think. Keep doing the fantastic job you do…so looking forward to your next show. Bendiciones Muneca…gracias!

So curious about the texture of this Pastel de Almendras! It turned out beautifully, but it tastes more like a mousse than a cake. I guess I was anticipating something more like the flourless chocolate cake that is served at Tacubaya in Berkeley,California.
I would be interested to hear about the experiences of others who have tried the recipe.

Love your show, which I discovered ‘por puritita casualidad’ on KQED. I hope Pati’s Mexican Kitchen will become a regular offering in the San Francisco Bay Area.